Stay
by Bellatrix wannabe 89
Summary: Bandit Regina sees a seemingly abandoned camp in the forest along with a huge chest of gold and decides this would be the perfect time to rob whatever idiot left that mountain of treasure out for anyone to take… OQ Happy Ending week, Day 1 (Monday)


I own no one but my own people

Regina Mills was not a thief.

Not really.

She wouldn't have needed to be if Snow White hadn't forced her hand.

Regina had no gold to begin with, even before the tragedy that stole Snow's true love, she had nothing. Her mother abandoned her as a baby and hadn't even bothered to swaddle her when she left Regina in the woods to die.

A man hiking had heard the infants cries and found her. He brought her to a couple who owned a flour mill where she worked as a slave all but in name to 'pay back' her guardians for a hard scratchy bed, a leaky roof, rags to wear and cold gloopy oatmeal twice a day.

The day Regina turned eighteen, she was thrown out of their house, never hers, always theirs, no more important than the bath water.

Regina made her living as a maid in Snow White's castle. She scoured the castle floors, washed and pressed her elaborate gowns, polished the silver, emptied Snows chamberpot…

She made 6 coppers a week. Barely enough to pay her rent in the tiny one room hobble she called a home and food that had gone past its prime along with two plain rough spun dresses and a pair of brown boots where the right was half a size too small and the left was half a size too big.

But even the plainness of her dresses hadn't stopped James, Snows true love from ogling the brown eyed maid as she worked. His eyes were glued to her curved obsessively, his tongue would lick his lips wherever she would bend over to dunk her rag into the wash bucket… Regina ignored him as best as she could, not wanting to lose her job or more importantly her head but as the days went on and the stares went on for longer it became harder and harder to pretend she didn't notice.

One day Regina had been washing one of the windows when James came up behind her and put his hand on her hips as his lips attacked the crock of her neck.

"My Lord, what are you doing?" Regina asked with a trembling voice.

"You've tempted me far too long, Wench," James breathed, giving her earlobe a rather sharp bite that made her cry out in pain as his hand slid up her skirts and grabbed her painfully hard between her legs, ignoring her desperate pleas to stop. "I wanna see what you've been hiding under that ugly brown dress of yours."

She hadn't mean to grab the dagger at James waist. It was out of instinct almost, her mind had gone completely blank, she didn't even remember stabbing him in the neck until one of her fellow maids was shaking her out of her stuber and telling her she had to flee the castle and never look back while the Queens true love laid dead and bleeding on the newly washed floors.

Regina hasn't even had a chance to go home to grab what little money she had saved up. By the time she got to the edge of the woods, not only had Snow burned her meager home down, she had set the whole village ablaze.

That was when she had became a thief that wasn't really a thief. She stole clothes from wash lines, stole a bow and a curved dagger from some unsuspecting town guard so she could hunt and protect herself, stole things from others to make the large burrow in the woods feel more like home. She didn't steal to make herself rich, she stole to survive. That was why she didn't consider herself a thief.

When it came to jewels, money, and treasures? She couldn't even steal enough to buy herself a drink at the local tavern.

Because her competition Robin Hood would best her at almost every turn. The carriages she planned to steal from would already be plundered, the wealthier manors would already have all of their treasures stolen, the Lord's and Ladies, Princes and Princesses traveling would already be robbed of their possessions by the time Regina got there.

God she hated that, probably, dirty filthy thief.

But now… now it appeared she was a step ahead of him for once. She had made her way to Sherwood Forest in a desperate attempt to lose Snows guards and had happened across what appeared to be a campsite with Cook fires, shabby tents, men's clothes hanging on drying lines. But what had held her interest the most was the unguarded treasure chest in the middle of the camp.

Regina sat there behind the tree for one, two, five, ten minutes, waiting for any movement from anywhere but eventually she decided it was abandoned. She slowly made her way across the campsite to the chest of gold and treasures and opened the lid, cringing at the loud creak it made.

But what was inside made it worth it.

It was full of gold coins, ornate jewels, priceless treasures… a handful of this would not only get her on a ship away from Snow's wrath but would buy her a first class cabin to ride in and her own maner when she got where she was going.

Regina grinned wildly as she got out her leather pouch and dunked it into the vast chest, filling the bag to the upmost brim with more gold and jewels than she had ever seen in her lifetime. But just as she was going to tie the bag to her belt she frowned, shifting the sack of gold from one hand to the other.

This wasn't right. She didn't need THIS much gold to escape from the Queen nor start her new life. Sighing, she dumped the treasure back into the chest, hating her stupid honor.

Regina took three silver pieces, enough for a hammock in steerage on a ship and five pieces of gold, enough to get her a reasonably safe home when she got to where she needed to go.

She had just tied the bag back to her belt and shut the top of the chest when she heard a familiar 'twang' of a bow string being released and felt the very tip of the arrow slice through her shoulder.

Regina let out a cry as she grabbed at the bleeding flesh. She grabbed an arrow from her own quiver to retaliate but as she went to turn around the strangest thing happened; the world began to spin and a lightheadedness overtook her. She dropped to one knee as her vision blurred and within seconds she was face first on the ground.

Regina barely managed to twist herself onto her back as blackness began to overtake her and the last thing she saw was a man in a forest green hooded cape with the bluest eyes she had ever seen staring down at her.

—-

When Regina awoke she was, for the first time in a very long time, actually comfortable. She was on a soft bed covered in warm furs and when she forced her eyes to flutter open she saw that she wasn't in her burrow but instead was inside a rather spacious tent.

"Good morning, M'lady."

Regina quickly sat up in the bed, looking desperately around until she spotted the man who had spoken.

He was sitting in a backwards ladderback chair and Regina realized he had been watching her sleep. The mysterious man wore a green leather doublet with metal studs and white billowing sleeves, brown leather pants and brown suede hunting boots.

A green cape was clasped around his neck with a lion broach.

He was attractive. Very attractive as a matter of fact, with dark blonde hair and just a touch of scruff.

But his eyes; those gorgeous ocean blue eyes that she could have fallen into, that she could have stared into for days and days…

Those eyes belonged to the same bastard that shot her with the, she realized now, poisoned arrow.

She could hear laughter and talking and light hearted music outside then thin sides but most importantly she didn't hear any feminine voices at all outside the tent. Only men…

One woman and a groups of what sounded like rough and rowdy men? That did not a good combination make…

"Starlight," the blonde man said suddenly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Regina as she shifted her attention back to the man watching her.

"What the arrow tip was laced with. It was a poison called 'starlight'."

Regina glared at the man who just infuriatingly smirked at her but made no other move to get up and come over to her nor did his eyes travel over her body.

It was then she noticed her top was missing as well as the clean white gauze that was overtop the cut the arrow had made.

"What did you do to me?" demanded Regina, her heart pounding hard as images of James lusting over her came to the forefront of her mind. "When I was passed out, what did-?"

"I didn't do a thing, nor did any of my men," he interrupted, already knowing what she was going to ask. "Friar Tuck needed to treat your shoulder wound but I assure you, the good friar is as noble and honorable as any clergyman could ever hope to be."

Regina frowned at him as her breath settled slightly but she didn't feel any painful bruises that were caused by rough wandering hands nor that telltale pain between her legs…

"Alright," she said slowly, still not trusting the man in front of her. "Maybe you are telling the truth."

"I always tell the truth, M'lady."

Regina couldn't help but snort at the title. "Trust me, I'm no lady."

"You're of the feminine human species and you're no less worthy of no less respect than someone born in a castle. In fact I'd say you were far more a lady then the current queen that rules over this land. A thousand times more beautiful at any rate."

A warmness spread over her cheeks as she gazed down at the brown fur blanket, swallowing hard at the compliment. As hard as she tried to fight it a half smile appeared on her lips…

When she looked back up at the man she expected lust to be in his eyes as he traveled up and down her nude chest hidden only by, she assumed, his furs.

But instead he was just looking at her face again, a playfulness in his eyes but they were also kind and gentle and warm.

Regina never heard stories about the brave honorable princes and beautiful sweet benevolent princesses as a child but she was sure that this man living in the woods was more valiant and incredible than any of them..

There was a knock, if you could call it that, on the flap of the tent and Regina yanked the furs back around her neck.

"Robin?" a man's voice asked as he fumbled his way into the tent, his massive hands covering his eyes so that he wouldn't see anything improper from the woman currently occupying his leaders bed.

"The horses are all saddled," the temporary blind man said.

"Thank you, Little John, I'll be along shortly."

When John disappeared back out of the tent Robin turned back to Regina who no longer had that doe eyed look of admiration but was giving him a look of shock.

"Robin Hood… YOU'RE Robin Hood?"

Robin gave a polite inclination of the head. "At your service, Regina."

"You shot me, you little shit!" she barked at him, her annoyance growing when he threw his head back and laughed at her rather crude comment.

But she found her anger at being shot with an arrow by her competitor far less than what she thought it would be.

"It's not funny!"

"You're right it's not." The grin he still wore completely contradicted his statement. "But to be fair you were trying to steal from me."

Regina pursed her lips and shifted rather guiltily. "...Yes well… you still shot me after I put most of it back. I only took enough to get a ship out of here and a home where I get where I'm going."

"I know you did. That's why I only grazed your shoulder and didn't aim for your head. Although when some of the men realized who I had spared I did get a few dirty looks over breakfast."

Regina didn't say another word as she looked the man over again with her newly gained information.

"What is it?" he asked with a glint of amusement.

"Nothing, I just… thought you'd be dirtier."

A look of amused shock took over his face thanks to her brassmess.

"Well I'll choose to take that as a compliment. Now

come on." Robin stood from his chair and tossed her her shirt from the desk beside him. "We need to get going."

"Going? Going where?"

"You're coming with me to see why I couldn't let you steal that treasure."

With a slight bow he turned and walked out of the tent leaving Regina alone with her thoughts.

Several minutes later she emerged from the tent, trying desperately to make the rats nest she called her hair cooperate but after a few moments she gave him and just affixed it into her every day side braid.

Robin stood by two horses, one a large brown stallion and the other a beautiful white mare. The brown one was laiden down with the treasure chest that had caused all this in the first place along with a medium sized burlap sack of something or other, she couldn't see inside. Regina watched as Robin gently stroke his horse as he fed it an apple from his hand. The horse kept nuzzling him and Regina couldn't help but smile.

She always loved horses. Her 'parents' for lack of a better world had a large old dusty work horse they used to help them on the farm and she had loved it as much as a princess would love a new pony.

Then when she worked at the castle Regina's would be the only gentle hand the horses in the Royal stable would feel between James and Snows cruel hand and even the stable boy Snow wouldn't allow for too much kindness or gentleness less they became 'weak' from too much love and affection. She hated how they would treat the large majestic animals.

Regina believed how one treated an animal was a mirror image of how you treated people and here was this thief, this bandit who lived in the woods, treating this unsaddled stallion like he was the King's personal prized steed.

Robin noticed her staring and he gave her that dazzling smile once more.

"You ready to go, M'lady?"

Regina shook the thoughts from her head as she cleared her throat. "I um… I really should be going. Even for just knowing my whereabouts and not telling the guards Snow White would hang you, if I'm caught riding with you…"

"We won't get caught," he assures her. "Trust me between the two of us I think we can outrun a few angry dwarves and an old werewolf. Plus it's only an hour or so ride away."

Another smile. Why could he bring a smile to her face so easily? It felt as easy as breathing when it came to being happy around him.

"Besides," said Robin. "I'd be aghast if you left here thinking I shot you over a few pieces of gold and silver for no reason."

"Well personally I don't think there was really any good reason to shoot me…"

Robin just chuckled as he offered her his hand so she could climb atop the horse. Regina just gave a playful smirk at the man before she mounted the mare without his assistance.

"Impressive," he said as he too climbed aboard his horse. "Do you ride much, M'lady?"

A flirtatious chuckle escaped her. "You'd be surprised."

Robin didn't miss a beat. "Oh I have a feeling I would indeed…"

The two bandits gently nudged their animals into gear and headed off away from the camp.

"So," Robin began when they had gone a ways. "What made you live the oh so glamorous lifestyle of an outlaw."

Regina pursed her lips as she debated rather or not to tell this man her story but, as hard as she was looking to find something imperfect about him that would justify closing herself off to him she just couldn't.

"You've read the wanted signs I'm sure," said Regina, not giving out any more information than that. "I killed the man who would be King."

"I've read the lies nailed to the trees, yes. But you're not a murderer, Regina Mills."

The brunette glanced down at the forest floor that moved under her horses hoofs. She hadn't told the story of what happened to James to anyone. She would rather let the townsfolk believe she had murdered the man the queen loved out of whatever hateful reason that had come up with.

But, as she lifted her head back up, she found that he was the first person she actually cared about what he thought of her. She didn't want to let him believe the stories they had spread about her.

"I was a maid in the castle. Prince James was always… attracted to me," Regina admitted. "Snow was blind to it and I ignored him the best I could but one day he took the next step and I… grabbed his dagger and… put an end to it." She shook her head. "I should have just let it happen, I shouldn't have killed a man, our future king at that, over that."

"Yes you should have," said Robin, an angry darkness in his voice that she hadn't expected. "No man, I don't care if he's a King or a peasant, has the right to take that from a woman."

"I ruined her life," she argued. "She loved him and I killed him."

"If he treated you like that, imagine how he would have treated her if they married and he became king. In a way you might have saved her life."

Regina slowly nodded. She never thought of it like that before…

"So what about you?" asked the woman atop the white mare, trying to change the conversation to something a little less depressing. "Why are you out here in the woods?"

"I grew up the son of a humble preacher," he explained. "My mother died in childbirth. Everything the church made, everything he made went to the people who had less fortunate than us but he was a stickler for the rules, he never put a single for out of line. Only donations from the townspeople. Because of that, we couldn't always afford to help the people who depended on us. So I decided to become an outlaw."

Regina furrowed her brow. What the hell did him stealing for himself and his men have to do with helping people?

"So you became a thief because you and your father couldn't afford to feed everyone?" she asked rather confused.

Robin just smirked.

"You'll see." His answer earned him a roll of her brown eyes and he chuckled at her. "You're very impatient, you know that?"

"I'm… shut up."

Another heartfelt laugh and she couldn't help the upwards tug at the corner of her lips. God she loved his laugh.

"Of course, M'lady."

They rode together in comfortable silence for a bit before Regina spoke again.

"Didn't you just want to settle down though? Not be on the run from the black guard every day, live in one place… have a wife?"

"Give up this adventurous life? No longer sleep under the stars? No, I could never do that. The wife bit though… that part almost happened."

"What happened?"

"Zelena was… less than than kind," Robin explained as neutral as he could. "My men all saw it, but I didn't. Not until she called the guards to have this little peasant boy flogged for running into her and getting mud on her dress."

Regina's eyes went wide. "She sounds…"

"Yeah. I know. I suppose I was just blinded by the idea of love."

"But you weren't actually in love?"

He shook his head. "I think I was just desperate to fall for someone and Zelena was the only woman who was willing to overlook the fact I was a thief."

"So you… you never had love. True love," Regina said softly. Robin gave her a nod as an answer and Regina pursed her lips again. "I thought I had true love once. I was young, seventeen years old. His name was Daniel, he was a stable boy at some lord's home. He was good, kind, respectful…"

"He sounds like the decent sort."

"He was but it was just young puppy love," she explained. "It faded away eventually. It wasn't real true love."

Robin nodded slowly before he raised his skin of water and smiled softly at her.

"Here's to finding true love."

A soft smile rose to her lips as she grabbed her own skin and gently tapped it against his.

"To finding true love."

"Robin Hood!"

Regina's head snapped forward and her eyes widened in fear at the voice that had called out her companions name. She went to grab her bow but when she saw his eyes light up and the joy on his face she realized that whoever had called out his name was well known.

All at once a large group of peasant children burst forth from the small poor village on up ahead, all of them grinning ear to ear as they raced forward to meet the bandits.

"Robin Hood! It's Robin Hood!

"Papa, It's really him!"

Robin laughed before he grabbed hold of the previous mystery sack and handed it down to one of the older boy's.

"Make sure you share," he told the gaggle of children as they tore it open to find it loaded with sweets.

The bright mood infected Regina as well but at the same confusion waged over her. What kind of village would be THIS excited over a thief coming to rob them?

She followed his horse into the town where the adults had waited a bit more patiently but Regina could see the happiness and excitement and even the occasional tears of joy in the peasants face.

"Bless you!" An older woman had cried out as he reached behind his horse and grabbed hold of the chest Regina had tried to steal from. He settled it on his lap and, to his traveling companions great surprise, opened the chest and began giving out the handfuls of gold to the small mob.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked in a hushed whisper. "You stole that gold fair and square, you almost died sometimes to get that!"

"I did. But this is what my merry men and I do with the gold we steal," he explained as he handed a particularly large diamond to an older woman who began weeping tears of joy. "We rob from the rich only to give to the poor. That's why I couldn't let you steal from me."

Regina's face fell as she watched him give out the handfuls of gold. This man, this bandit in the woods, was a hero. A true honest to goodness hero…

Robin held out the chest and inclined his head towards the group. She smiled slowly as she grabbed a handful of the gold coins and tossed them into the air being met with cheers from the peasants who grabbed at the gold. Unable to help the laugh that crossed her lips she grabbed another handful of gold and handed it to another peasant.

A little peasent girl no older than four tugged at Regina's pant leg. She looked down and smiled at the small child who was staring up at her

"Hello, Sweetie. What's your name?"

"Abbie," she answered in a small soft voice.

"Hi, Abbie."

Regina felt a nudge on her shoulder and when she looked over she saw Robin holding out a handful of sweets that he had held onto from the bag he had given the group of children. Regina took the sweets and leaned down to put them in the small girls outstretched hand.

Abbie looked at Regina like she had given her all of King Midas' gold.

"Thank you Mrs. Robin Hood!"

Regina's eyes went wide and she could hear the laugh from Robin as the girl ran off to show her mother the prize. The brown eyed woman turned towards her fellow bandit who smirked at her.

"The name suits you," was all he said before he continued to hand out the gold.

An hour later the two bandits sat at the edge of the small creek they had passed so their horses could have a drink before they started their trek back to Robins camp.

"If I knew you did this with the gold you stole," said Regina. "I wouldn't have talked so much trash about you in my head."

Robin laughed again as he leaned back against the tree. "I love helping people," he told her. "I love seeing the smiles on their faces, the relief in their eyes when they realize they can eat this month…"

"The cheering of your name when you ride into town doesn't hurt either I bet," she said.

"That too."

Regina chuckled as she looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry that I stole from you. If I had known what you were going to use the gold for I never would have even thought of trying to rob you."

"I know you wouldn't have. I also know that there's honor in you, Regina Mills. That's why you only stole what you needed."

Without warning Robin reached into his pocket and pulled out the three silver and five gold pieces she had originally taken.

Regina stared down at the coins in his hand.

"You're giving this to me? But I thought your whole philosophy was 'don't steal for yourself'."

"It is. But you're not the one stealing it, I'm giving it to you. You can't steal what's been given to you."

Regina swallowed hard as she looked up and her eyes met his.

Once more she was loft in the waves of ocean blue. Her heart pounded as he reached up with a rough hand and gently pushed a stray lock of hair that had fallen out of her plait. She had never wanted to feel the touch of a man more desperately than she wanted to feel his.

"Join my crew," he asked her, his voice barely above a whisper. "Be one of my Merry Men."

Regina shook her head.

"Snow White is looking for me, she'd kill you if she found out you were helping me. If something happened to you because of me…"

"It won't. We're always four steps ahead and two steps to the side when it comes to her and her guard. You'd be safer with me than on your own. You have skills, Regina, skills I admire and could use."

She swallowed hard as he inches closer to her.

"Is that all you want me for is my thriving skills?"

A flicker of a smile on his face.

"Amongst other things…"

A soft chuckle from her as he wrapped his arms around her. Respectful and cordial but wanting her all at once.

It was exactly a way a man should hold onto a woman, the way lovers would hold onto another.

"Stay." There were no jokes, no laughter, no playfulness this time but just pure admiration and want. "Please?"

Regina took a deep breath. She should say no. She should just thank him for the gold and leave, she should leave the Enchanted Forest and Snow White and all of the inhabitants behind.

But as she looked at the thief, her competition, she found that she couldn't get the words 'no' past her lips. For the first time in her life she actually wanted to stay here…

So she merely whispered out two soft spoken words that would end up bringing her more happiness than she ever could have hoped for;

"I'll stay ."

Please Review! This was my first ever challenge for OQ and I'm so scared y'all are gonna hate it but okay I'm scared don't hate me...


End file.
